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The concept of ‘Organismic Asymmetry’ in sport science

Journal of science and medicine in sportPublished 3 July 2010
Keith Davids, Duarte Araújo
Citations160
SJR quartileQ1
SJR score1.32
SNIP1.41

TL;DR

The philosophical roots of the bias are elucidated, implications of organismic asymmetry for sport science and performance analysis are discussed and examples in psychology, sports medicine and biomechanics are highlighted.

Abstract

The concept of organismic asymmetry refers to an inherent bias for seeking explanations of human performance and behaviour based on internal mechanisms and referents. A weakness in this tendency is a failure to consider the performer-environment relationship as the relevant scale of analysis. In this paper we elucidate the philosophical roots of the bias and discuss implications of organismic asymmetry for sport science and performance analysis, highlighting examples in psychology, sports medicine and biomechanics.

Keywords

PsychologyMedicineBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology